MCPON 14 IG Investigation / Resignation

FWIW, I don’t care if the next MCPON was a BM, EN, ET, CT, RP, YN etc. The initial candidate list is formed from the Fleet and Force senior enlisted and whittled down from there. I think that is a really good start (see below). I have heard and read a lot of people saying we need a hard ass "old school" Chief and not a politician. A large part odd me agrees, and part of me thinks if we put someone in this position without some political / organizational savvy that we will be setting them up to fail. Whether in front of Congress testifying about issues pertinent to the enlisted force or carrying the SECNAV’s or CNO’s message to the deck plates ... a small level of ‘political’ ability is needed.

What we need is the best candidate - rating aside, demographics aside, the sub surf or air etc. communities arguing that it is time one of theirs had the job ... it should be the one who the CNO feels is going to work for him/her the best. CNO should select the candidate who is going to do the best job.

While in the last few years I haven’t paid as much attention to MCPON as my LCPO, I could not really tell you what MCPON 14 was doing. I can read the billet description and mission on his section of the navy.mil site pretty easily when I look at the upper right hand corner I see the MCPON Priorities:

1 seems pretty legit, 1 is a copy of a reading list, 4 seem like administrative or PA fluff that should be prioritized behind bigger issues for the enlisted force. If this is the list of what MCPON is really putting above all else, I am disappointed.

BT BT

My first USN assignment was the same shop where he was NJP’d - 6 years after the incident - SUB DIRSUP is pseudo closed loop ... a lot of people knew him), my second assignment he was the Dept LCPO of the Dept I went to (he left a couple weeks before I got there), I casually crossed paths a few times since then. From what I have gathered (scuttlebutt) he is a great guy if he likes you and if you aren’t liked it can be rough to say the least. This would seem to be true for almost any senior person I know (regardless of rating) /scuttlebutt. Where this is an issue is if the ‘unliked’ label grew and created the (alleged and under investigation) toxic work environment. When I worked on Capitol Hill, staffers used office recidivism as a gauge of office climate. A 100% office turnover (especially in that office) in less than 2 years is just not normal; 2 chiefs were sent away (fired) and 4 people requested early reassignment. The law of averages allows that 1 or 2 folks were likely dead weight ... but all of them? It isn’t conclusive but gets my attention.

Being that we are from the same warfare community in the Navy, I have a lot of friends & former colleagues that know him personally / outside of work. Where I guess I am let down is the wagon circling: “MCPON got screwed by snowflakes” etc., arguments that this “should have been handled within the Mess (how do you effectively do that when he is THE senior one in the Mess and to be frank — doesn’t work for the Mess) and that Navy Times should not have published the articles about the ongoing IG investigation (I don’t like the Crimes, but they are not a PA / PR vehicle and based on his position, that is bound to happen).

I have my issues, concerns and thoughts on the Mess as an organization and Giordano (both prior to being MCPON and the IG issues) illustrates some of them. I firmly believe a good Mess is the best possible thing for a command and that a bad / dysfunctional one is the worst. I think the 'cult of personality' has been allowed to get where it is by past commissioned leadership and is allowed it’s issues by the current leadership. Every command I have been at when command climate surveys are done ... there have been (in some cases understandable) varying degrees of disconnect between the Wardroom and Mess with seniors explaining via debrief that juniors will come to understand / accept the issues over time.

Beyond this individual (MCPON 14) maybe we take a better look at why the disconnects are there and if they are truly best for the Navy.

The most important six inches on the battlefield ... is between your ears.